The EdFOCUS Initiative team has proven experience in leading schools and districts in the implementation of site-specific, research-based processes that improve student achievement, such as:

The Ohio Improvement Process, known as OIP

The Ohio Department of Education’s official school improvement process to:

• Identify needs using the Decision Framework
• Develop a Focused Plan to address those needs
• Implement the Focused Plan
• Monitor the Focused Plan

The STEM Initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)

The STEM Initiative re-designs the instructional program to focus on higher-order thinking, creativity, group processes, and scientific inquiry. STEM students show mastery through the completion of authentic projects that require them to solve realistic problems and construct meaning that will transfer to successful citizenship in the 21st century.

RTI (Response to Intervention)

• Assessing students as soon as they struggle to immediately pinpoint their precise needs
• Providing targeted intervention services from the outset and continuously monitoring progress rather than waiting for students to fail
• Accommodating the needs of advanced as well as struggling learners by planning for differentiation in classroom  course tools
• Blending Special Education and General Education programs and staff into a seamless whole that prioritizes student need over labels and discrepancy formulas

Value-Added

The growth model that compares the progress of AYP subgroups; examining the extent to which all groups make equitable progress across the same time frame, and removing the barriers that may be preventing such progress

Professional Learning Communities

• Teams who work together to assess student needs and who celebrate student growth; all students are perceived as everyone’s responsibility
• Creating a culture of shared responsibility and commitment for maintaining the most effective level of programs and services
• Collaborative problem-solving and decision-making to take specific actions for the benefit of every student
• Observing one another in the classroom to collaboratively reflect on those teacher behaviors that impact student performance